Temple Of Saints - A Solid Performance

Bells League Division One 18/02/2006

Hamilton Accies 1 Saints 2League Table Here

Team : Glennon, Stevenson, Goran, Mensing, Rustybitz, James, Hardie, Winter, Dobbie, Scotland, Sheerinho
Subs : Cat, Henry, Fozzy, Coyle, Scrabble

After being robbed of the chance to close the gap on the leaders last weekend, despite a good performance from the whole side, today was a chance to make amends against Billy Reid's side who have been in contention near the top of the table all season. The focus was on Saints though especially with the Paisley mob having what looked to be a home banker against Stranraer. In the end we deserved the points although we still managed a few nervous moments as we failed to kill the play (and missed a couple of sitters into the bargain). No doubt most of us would have taken that scoreline before the game but the performance was a solid one as well into the bargain against a well-organised Accies side.

Pamela was again missing although expected to return to the side next week in place of Simon Mensing who was playing his last game for a month today. The other absentee was Darren Sheridan who was presumably out with flu. That meant Martin Hardie dropping back to midfield and Dobbie handed a starting jersey. Oweny replaced Peaso on the bench with Scrabble drafted into the squad.

We started well with Dobbie finding Ryan in the box in the first minute with a cross but the midfielder couldn't make room for the shot. A minute later and Mensing found Ryan on the wing and his cutback almost found Sheerinho. Two minutes later a simple freekick was headed down by James for Scotland. Jason laid the ball back to Sheerinho who tried a drive from the edge of the box which the keeper held. We were passing the ball about well and got plenty of room on the wings especially with Goran causing problems down the left. But both Winter and Hardie seemed to have trouble adapting to the surface with the former losing his balance several times.

For all the play we dictated in the early stages, the game wasn't exactly full of goalmouth incident. A decent Stevenson run after 15 minutes found no takers to his final ball although it has to be said that Ryan again faded as the game wore on with Gilhaney getting the better of him for most of the second-half. Dobbie saw a shot deflected over a minute later but the set-piece was wasted. Accies first real opportunity came halfway through the first-half with a header that Glennon dealt with comfortably. A minute later, we had a freekick after Jason was hacked down and left needing treatment off the park. From the freekick, James headed the ball down in the box but again there were no takers.

The home side enjoyed a good spell of pressure after that mainly due to our inability to clear our lines and the midfield again sitting back too deep and giving Accies too much room. In the end the biggest danger came from a long-range effort that went just wide of target seven minutes from the break. Saints didn't really get going until the closing stages of the half. Jason had been through a couple of times courtesy of Sheerinho controlling the midfield play, but could only force a corner. We came close in the 40th minute with a Dobbie cross which ended in a Sheerinho header being saved. Three minutes after that, we should have opened the scoring. Mensing released Jason down the right channel. He got to the byeline and skinned his marker before cutting the ball back to Mensing but he blasted the ball over from ten yards.

Accies hit straight back with a good break and cutback that would have ended in a goal if Glennon hadn't pulled off a brilliant block with his legs. Saints broke back up the park with Dobbie breaking through one-on-one. He didn't have the pace though and ended up settling for a corner. That was cleared but on the stroke of half-time, Sheerinho set up Jason who won another corner. This time we made it count and Sheerin's outswinger found James. The skipper's first header was blocked in the area but he was quick to react with a second bullet of a header which, despite the handling of a defender on the line, finished up in the back of the net. One-nil to us at a perfect time and the skipper definitely enjoyed that goal.

After the break (with Glennon out for a warm-up during it!!), the second-half started well for Saints with Rustybitz (who had another excellent game at the back), breaking through the middle just after the restart. He didn't stop at the box and after a neat one-two with the Dobster, forced a corner. That was played deep and found Hardie who managed a decent header that just clipped the bar and went over. Three minutes later another freekick into the box after a foul on James, fell to Winter but again the shot was just over the bar. Dobbie came closer ten minutes into the half after a good break saw Scotland pass to Dobbie but his powerful shot was blocked by the keeper. Two minutes later a good tackle by Hardie in the midfield released Dobbie but again poor finishing meant we had to settle for the first in a series of corners. From these James had a header go wide, another header was cleared off the line and a penalty claim was turned down. Twenty minutes into the second-half some more good play on the left saw Stanic and Scotland link up with the latter being released and after a brilliant turn left his marker for dead he tried his luck with an angled shot that went just over the bar.

Accies hit back with some pressure but their best effort was another long-range one what went just over the bar with Mensing, James and Rusty doing their jobs. Where we were weak was on the right wing and with twenty minutes to go Stevenson lost out again and conceded another corner. This time the ball was played deep but Glennon and Mensing had it covered with the keeper picking it up at the back post. He took his time but eventually spotted Dobbie breaking down the right as Accies were late in getting back. A long clearance got the break of the ball and found Dobbie, he sprinted (well huffed and puffed) up to the edge of the area before squaring to an unmarked Jason in the middle. Scotland took a couple of touches but sent a cracking shot past the onrushing keeper and into the back of the net to make it 2-0.

Unfortunately Saints were guilty of taking things a bit too casually and three minutes later an Accies freekick into the box ended in a snapshot that Glennon tipped wide. We didn't learn our lesson though and from the corner, Tunbridge rose up for a free header into the top corner to make it 2-1. Time for the nerves to commence fraying once more. The home side started to press and it took some panicky defending at times to maintain our lead. For all that we still created some chances and a Dobbie cutback in the 78th minute found Ryan but his shot was tipped wide for a corner. A

s the game wore on, we settled for hitting Accies on the break and in fact looked a lot more dangerous for it. Dobbie was obviously tired and Scotland, having been on the end of a couple of nasty tackles was struggling at times. But there were still problems with Accies threatening from corner kicks although Glennon looked very comfortable catching the ball. Even then he wasn't always called into action with Hardie one of several blue shirts to make good blocks in the closing stages.

John Henry replaced Jamie Winter two minutes from time and as normal time ended he should have wrapped it up for us after a long ball found Scotland in plenty of room on the left. He broke forward before squaring to Henry in the middle, who with just the keeper to beat seemed to hesitate and ended up seeing his shot saved. Coyle replaced Dobbie just after that as Saints ran out the clock (not that we were overly successful in doing that).

Overall it was a good solid performance and we thoroughly deserved the points. MoM for me was skipper Kevin James who scored one good goal and kept the team going throughout. Mentions too for Mensing (who we're going to miss as he sits out the next three), Sheerin and Stanic who were all on form today.

It's still not over.....

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